Small Town Living.

When we set out months ago on the journey to find our new home, Levi and I both loved the idea of raising our kiddos in a place with a small town feel. Well, we ended up in a town with a population of a whopping 19k, so yeah, we pretty much nailed that prerequisite. Small town living here we are!

A town of 19,000 people is much smaller than I ever imagined and I have to admit, I am nervous. I grew up in what I thought was a small town, where everyone knew everyone and that was a population of over 100k people. How is this going to play out?

While it has taken some adjustment, small town living definitely has plenty of awesome benefits.

No commute time or traffic to plan around.

Hands down the most amazing benefits of living in this small town are being able to walk to school, daycare, and work. And when we do drive anywhere I have to plan for oh an estimated 5 minute maximum travel time, and that’s hitting every traffic light and stopping to help an old lady cross the street. Ok, I am only slightly exaggerating, but you get my point. It’s amazing!

Quick to see familiar faces.

Being away from all our family and friends is hard. We left everyone we know, and are on our own. But it didn’t take long to start to recognize people around town. Even though we haven’t made our core group of friends yet, there is comfort in recognizing a face at the grocery store or at one of the free community events. It is kind of a cool feeling when a client at work says “Hey I saw you walking your little ones to school this morning, we live in that neighborhood too.”

Glimpse back in time.

There are thriving mom and pop shops, not a thing of the past. Specialty stores all around town: the meat shop, vacuum repair store, stationery store, the shoe store, and general store. It has been a learning curve, and possibly the hardest part for me to personally adjust to. I was so accustomed to going to Wal-mart gathering supplies for everyday life. Out of habit, I began making the same decision here. But Wal-Mart is out of town just enough to make it a hassle and oddly enough doesn’t seem to have what I am looking for when I have gone there. So I changed my ways a bit and now go to the smaller local stores. When I need a file at work I walk around the corner to buy a box of files at the stationery store. When we needed a fireplace screen we went to the general store.

The sense of community is alive and well.

The week before Christmas while unloading the kids and all their school gear (I swear their backpacks and coats multiply in the back seat) our neighbor came running outside. She was so excited to tell us all about Santa coming down the street that night. He would be sitting in an old firetruck collecting food and blankets for the food bank while handing out candy canes to the neighborhood kids.

Of course, the kids loved gathering supplies to hand to the firefighters and seeing jolly old Santa atop the truck made it that much more exciting. It would have been easy for the neighbor to just go about her day and not say anything about the event but that’s just how people are in a small town. We have had neighbors stop and introduce themselves while walking their dogs or recognize us while we are out on the town and welcome us to the area. It’s kind of funny how everyone seems to know the “new family from Texas in the cute little house on the corner.”

You have to think to spend money, not so spur of the moment .

My usual stomping grounds are nowhere to be found. I now shop less when I am bored or just have the urge to get out of the house. A moment of honesty, and I am not even kidding. One of my “requirements” looking at possible areas to live was if they actually had a Target. Yes I like Target, but my saying that was more of a guidepost. It was judging if the town had amenities I thought I would need, not necessarily a Target. It seems ironic now since the closest Target is over 100 miles away.

No line at the D.M.V.

Getting a new drivers license is an ordeal. Only to become worse after you are met with a grumpy clerk informing you. after a 5 hour wait you do not have the proper form, required information, etc. Getting my drivers license a few months ago there only one person in front of me. I was not even finished filling out the forms before my number was called. One of the friendliest clerks in the world took my info and welcomed me to the area. She had a smile on her face. Offered great ideas on things to do with the kids and things to see in the area. It made getting a new drivers license a very pleasant experience.

Lines and long wait times are pretty much non-existent in this small town. Errands that used to take forever were put off until the absolute last second. Now they are not a big deal now and done over a lunch break.

People are happy to live here, not stuck here.

We have yet to have a person that lives here ask us why in the world we moved here of all places. We are constantly welcomed with such genuine excitement of a young (not really but I will take it) family moving to the area. People love the area, they choose to live here and make a living. They can go down the road to Seattle and probably make more money. But this small town lifestyle is their choice. It seems like people that are “transplants” here move to the area to get away from the big city life. They want to be a part of the smaller community and enjoy the simplicity of small town living. There is definite pride and contentment in the citizens of this small town, this is very much their home.

Ready to leave the big city yet? If you, like me, worry a small town might not be to your liking don’t be so quick to write them off. You may just find small town living fits your family perfectly!